AFL Round 14 Adelaide v Sydney: All the reaction to Saturday night’s game

Adelaide have lost three on the trot and sit 4-1-9 heading into the bye, but coach Matthew Nicks believes the club is actually making progress despite what results suggest.

Matt Turner

@mattturner1986

6 min read

June 16, 2024 - 9:18AM

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Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks insists his side is making progress this year.

“It’s dangerous to say because our results don’t show that,” Nicks said post-game on Saturday night.

“We understand the frustration – and we have the same frustration – but we do know that we’re heading in the right direction.”

What the results show are three straight losses and nine defeats in all from 14 games this year.

Go back further and the Crows have a 8-1-15 record over the past 12 months.

Four of those wins have been against strugglers West Coast and North Melbourne.

Those 15 losses have included seven by eight points or fewer and just three by more than four goals.

Matthew Nicks addresses his players against Sydney. Picture: Getty Images

So they have been gallant, but they have struggled to win for a while.

Adelaide was plucky for most on Saturday night when it overcame a week of intense scrutiny to threaten an upset against ladder-leading Sydney, before falling by seven goals.

But the Crows – and Nicks – will ultimately be judged by their record.

“I’ve learnt (as external pressure mounted over the past fortnight) that I’ve got a pretty good footy club looking after me at the moment,” Nicks said.

“That’s one of the most positive things to come out of this, it’s challenging, but I’ve got full backing of this footy club.

“(Chairman) John (Olsen) and (chief executive) Tim (Silvers) have been amazing for me, our playing group have been incredible through this tough time.

“We’re sticking tight, so I hope that’s a sign of the sort of human I am – that we’re not going to give up, we’re going to keep pushing through.

“We actually feel like we are making progress.”

Nicks’s optimism probably comes from things like beating flag contender Carlton at Marvel Stadium, as well as top-four team Port Adelaide for the third time in a row, getting so close to reigning premier Collingwood – again – at the MCG and his team’s response in the first half against the Swans.

It hasn’t been all bad for Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

Plus, individual bright spots, such as Max Michalanney’s shadowing role on Sydney young gun Chad Warner.

Michalanney attended 12 centre bounces against Hawthorn then started in the middle again on Saturday night before following the speedster inside 50 when he shifted forward.

Warner collected 20 touches but always seemed to be under pressure – sometimes from his own making – and had minimal influence, going at 50 per cent disposal efficiency.

As the Crows continue to tweak their midfield mix, searching for more dynamism, they will look at playing Michalanney on-ball more often.

He did not attend any centre bounces in his debut campaign last year but had been at 12 this season – all against Hawthorn a fortnight ago.

The 20-year-old registered 18 CBAs on Saturday night.

“Max is a competitor, he’s shown that behind the ball where he’s played on some of the best players in the game,” Nicks said.

“He continues to grow and add to his game, and he has the ability to win one-on-ones.

“Chad Warner is a very, very good footballer and we felt like a little attention there would help us.

“I thought it went really strong for us for two-and-a-half quarters.”

Michalanney told this masthead it was an exciting opportunity to try something new.

“I pride myself on my defensive work,” Michalanney told this masthead.

“I reckon until about under-16s I played midfield, then I was mainly down back.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn playing in the midfield … but I’m happy to play wherever Nicksy needs.”

Michalanney lamented the Crows’ lapses in the third quarter, as the Swans piled on six consecutive goals to take a 21-point lead into the final break.

Michalanney dishes off a handball. Picture: Getty Images

“It comes down to the contest, we were losing it in the third quarter and we gave away silly free kicks that really hurt us,” he said.

Crows leadership group member Mitch Hinge flooring Taylor Adams and costing his team a goal immediately after a Sydney major was a significant moment in the match.

Nicks said that was “an example on steroids” where the team’s focus was not where it needed to be and it got punished.

The coach was “super confident” his side would be able to rectify one of its achilles heels – being unable to stop opponents’ momentum – after it was again a major issue against the Swans.

“It’s important where we don’t talk about one moment where a player does something after the play and they get another shot on goal,” he said.

“It was contest.

“They beat us to every 50-50 ball, whether it was on the ground, in the air, in the ruck, centre bounce.”

The final stats do not make for pleasant reading for Adelaide: 61-35 down in inside 50s, 52-31 in clearances, 19-4 in centre clearances and 159-123 in contested possessions.

Sydney, which now had a 12-1 win-loss record, showed why it was the premiership favourite and on track for a fourth consecutive finals appearance.

The Swans would not have made the top eight last year, had the Crows not been wrongfully denied a late major by that infamous goal umpiring howler in their round 23 meeting at the same ground and held on to their lead for another minute.

Instead, Sydney prevailed that night by one point, booking a top-eight spot at Adelaide’s expense.

The directions the two clubs have gone since that finals decider have been starkly different.

CROWS IMPLODE IN 12 MINUTES OF SYDNEY MADNESS

It was the six-goal burst in around 12 minutes that took the wind out of a gutsy response and added more misery.

After copping it externally for nine days, as all aspects of the club and the rebuild were scrutinised, the Crows delivered an against-the-odds performance to lead premiership favourites Sydney by 16 points on the back of a Jake Soligo major 16 minutes into the third term at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

The confidence Matthew Nicks suggested was not there while his team sat in a “pretty dark spot” last week was suddenly back.

One of the upsets of the season – and best wins of the Nicks era – was on the cards.

But the coach had in recent weeks lamented his side’s inability to stop opposition’s momentum and he watched that prove the case again.

Joel Amartey, who booted nine goals, gets in the face of Crows Mitch Hinge and Nick Murray. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

It went something like this.

At 18min 56 sec into the third term, Joel Amartey boots his fifth goal.

Less than three minutes later, Isaac Heeney kicks a major, then Amartey kicks two in under two minutes.

The biggest blow was yet to come – a post-goal free kick against Mitch Hinge led to a Taylor Adams set-shot goal from 40m that put Sydney 15 points ahead.

Then Amartey slipped out the back to add another, extending the Swans’ lead to 21 points by three-quarter time.

Adelaide’s good work unravelled just like that.

Game over.

Finals chances over – if they were not already.

That momentum Nicks talked about being unable to stop came at the Crows like a freight train as Sydney booted 10 successive goals until Ben Keays snapped that run with two minutes left in the game.

“Credit to them, the Crows battled hard, they showed enormous effort, but it got away from them pretty quickly,” Luke Darcy said on Channel 7.

Colleague Jude Bolton called it a devastating blitz.

Brodie Grundy was far too good for Kieran Strachan in the ruck. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

In that term, Adelaide lost contested possessions 39-28, clearances 13-4 and inside 50s 15-6.

“It was complete domination,” Bolton said.

Nicks looked frustrated and flummoxed a few times when he was shown on TV during that run of Swans goals.

Faced with a monumental task to get his players off the canvas, the under-pressure coach pulled all the right levers early.

Adelaide threw Max Michalanney in the first centre bounce and he shadowed and frustrated Sydney gun Chad Warner all night.

The Crows’ pressure was brilliant in the first half, they seemed to win most one-on-ones and they moved the ball quicker than recent weeks, buoyed by Izak Rankine’s return.

Nicks said after the Tigers defeat that confidence could come and go so quickly.

It happened in a flash on Saturday night – or 12 minutes at the end of the third quarter.

Adelaide will take positives out of its start, but also be wondering why its inability to stop momentum keeps happening and when this downtrodden run will end.